Rtn1, I doubt that Andreas will come on here to clear up our confusion, but I think that the alogrythms do more than filter, but that is one key activity. The upsampling to DSD will get certain noise up into the stratosphere, allowing a number of sampling alternatives.
Let me tell you what was wrong with version 18. It sounded good on almost everything, including BIG orchestral stuff with lots of dynamics. I received a CD from Al Hood, a trumpet playing friend, and on one cut, where he was doing a bravura-style solo, that soared over the band, the trumpet broke up very harshly, even worse than a mistracking stylus. I reported the problem and found another CD or two that did the same thing. Andreas was able to replicate the bug. When I reverted to the default software the problem went away and when I reinstalled v. 18 the problem was not there.
Andreas said that we needed to install v. 19, even if v. 18 was working for us. He said that a certain series of actions could cause it to recur.
It's very interesting that the highs, particularly trumpet sheen or what we call sizzle, was more realistic, open and unstrained than on v. 18.
Could that all be due to a filter change? I suppose that it could be.
There are dark secrets we'll never be told the answer to. Is the EQ manipulated in the digital domain?? Just like "voicing" of amps and preamps, I think that DACs can be voiced. What's "neutral" when you start with a harsh, brittle sounding CD??? Maybe they can simply filter out that harshness and hash, but maybe you also apply some gentle EQ. I don't know, but I bet it's done by some.
Dave